Liquefied natural gas

Within the frameworks of the 4th summit in Thessaloniki, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov met with the US Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov has met with U.S. Ambassador to Greece Geoffrey Pyatt on the sidelines of the 4th Thessaloniki Summit, the government press office reported.

The European Investment Bank said on Thursday it would stop funding fossil fuel projects at the end of 2021, a landmark decision that potentially deals a blow to billions of dollars of gas projects in the pipeline.

The bank's new energy lending policy, which it said was approved with "overwhelming" support, will bar most fossil fuel projects, including traditional use of natural gas.

Cyprus signed a 25-year concession on Thursday with a three-member consortium for the exploitation of a gas reservoir southeast of the island first discovered in 2011.

The gradual distancing of Public Power Corporation (PPC) from Public Gas Corporation (DEPA), of which the power giant used to be the main client, will likely be the killing blow for the gas utility's competitiveness, just as the state is getting ready to privatize it.

The imposition of new environmental regulations for the consumption of low-sulfur fuel by oceangoing vessels has seen the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market take center stage in global shipping, with Greek shippers recently overtaking the Japanese as the top owners, after ordering a large number of vessels since 2018, according to a VesselsValue report published on Wednesday.

Russian gas exports to Turkey, Greece and seven other Southeast European nations fell by more than a quarter in the first half of 2019 as cheaper liquefied natural gas (LNG) and new Azeri supplies helped the region reduce reliance on Russia.

Private Greek industrial group Mytilineos has overtaken incumbent DEPA to become the country's biggest LNG importer this year, the first time in history that an independent company has knocked the state-owned company from the top spot, ICIS an information platform on petrochemicals and specifically on energy issues, fertilisers and other commodities said in a report.

Three joint ventures have been selected by Cyprus in the first stage of a tender to provide a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to import liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The first joint venture is led by China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering, Natural Gas Public Company of Cyprus (DEFA) said on its website.

Global orders for new oceangoing vessels dropped to record lows after the year's second quarter, but Greek shipowners remained the leaders in orders across the entire range of tankers and liquefied natural gas carriers, according to a survey by VesselsValue.